RE: [dita] Keywords in DITA (example)

[Don Day <dond@us.ibm.com>]

"JoAnn Hackos" <joann.hackos@comtech-serv.com> wrote on 03/09/2005 01:53:43 PM:

> I don' t understand the <term> element.  Can that now be used? Is
> there processing avialable?

Bruce's use is in agreement with the definition in the language reference: The <term> element identifies words that represent extended definitions or explanations. In future development of DITA, for example, terms might provide associative linking to matching glossary entries.

It is easy to confuse term with keyword, but I look at keyword as indicating enumerations or reserved string values, whereas term is any word that an author identifies as having an associative definition somewhere, even just conceptually. So if I indicate <term>snow</term> with markup, I am saying that my processing system CAN associate a popover definition or link to a glossary. This will be up to the requirements of your application--you would not want every indicated term to also be turned into a link--too much blue in some cases! But strings identified as terms are also very interesting as metadata in their own right because they are indicators of relevance--a topic with <term>snow shovel</term> might rank higher than one in which the unmarked words "snow" and "shovel" are unrelated instances in the discourse. Also, I might harvest terms to make certain that my glossary is up to date. As with keyword, the importance of the base element is really the fact that it can be specialized to be more semantically meaningful and thereby support more specific processing, like <controlledterm> or <glossaryterm>, each with separate connotations of use.

Regards,
--
Don Day <dond@us.ibm.com>
Chair, OASIS DITA Technical Committee
IBM Lead DITA Architect
11501 Burnet Rd., MS 9037D018, Austin TX 78758
Ph. 512-838-8550 (T/L 678-8550)

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